SARS-CoV-2 cell tropism and multiorgan infection
Jia Liu, Yufeng Li, Qian Liu, Qun Yao, Xi Wang, Huanyu Zhang, Rong Chen, Liang Ren, Juan Min, Fēi Dèng, Bing Yan, Liang Liu, Zhìhóng Hú, Manli Wang, Yiwu Zhou
Abstract
To date, the number of confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases has surpassed 100 million, with deaths exceeding 2 million, yet the mechanism by which severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV)-2 attacks the body remains unclear. Although SARS-CoV-2 is known to primarily target the lung, it is also believed to cause multi-organ dysfunction and comprehensive studies on SARS-CoV-2 cell tropism in humans are lacking. SARS-CoV-2 exploits the host angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) as its receptor for cell entry 1 , but the correlation between SARS-CoV-2 organ/cell tropism and ACE2 distribution is unclear. Here, we studied these issues via a systemic analysis of postmortem specimens from a 66-year-old female COVID-19 patient who had rapidly developed multiorgan failure. The patient died in the hospital on Day 13 of admission (Day 16 of illness) and her autopsy was performed at 8 h after death.